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Still trying...

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 1:48 am
by clxfiles
Ok here's what I been working on lately. It's taken me months to get this far, doing a little bit here and a little there. Repainting it like 4 times didn't help. I know I still need much more practice with the painting skills, I'm working on it. I did come away feeling good about a few things.
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Anyone have any suggestions how I can clean up the window trim and also shine it up a little? They got foggy when I used thinner to remove the other paint jobs.

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One thing I was glad about was extending the hood using scrap plastic and glue.

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Old versus new...

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This is my cleanest wiring job to date. There's plenty of room for improvement but compared to my other stuff, it's a Michaelangelo...
Does anyone still have the diagram to do a fet mod on theis pcb? THe threads I found that referred to maybe having a diagram, the pictures were no longer there.

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:12 am
by betty.k
i think you can be happy with that :-o

only thing i can think of to fix the windows is paint them black.

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:06 am
by Maxximum Attack
I agree with betty, just clean up the windows and you're jet set.
That old vs new makes that car look sweet :-). Great job on the ground effects man.

Maxx

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:11 am
by crazydave
Very nice, you know I'm a sucka for blue and silver.

Its a bit risky, but you can fix your windows by wet sanding with 1000 grit, and clear coating.

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:13 am
by ynad
very nice hack job :-o i like that silver, is that paint?
you could use black vinyl tape for windows. it has some gloss to it, might look good. if you use it like a visor for windshield you might get away with it foged up ( :screwed: ) also, plastic polish paste is out there.
sweet ride 8-)

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 12:38 pm
by HirotoR34
I like the paint scheme. I think a wetsanding and a few coats of clear will smooth it out. Nice work! :-o

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:59 pm
by clxfiles
Thanks for the suggestions and the encouragement pimps!!!
I'm gonna try the wetsand and clearcoat tonight. If that don't work, tinted windows it is. Keep ya fingers crossed fo me.

HirotoR34 - did you mean wetsand the paint also? Because whenever I try, with this paint, it comes out scuffy looking. I know I'm supposed to do another coat of paint at that point but not sure if I wanna or can re-mask the whole thing.

Ynad - yes the silver is paint. It's actually the base coat for the pearl-blue on top. I just masked the pars that I wanted to keep silver.

I guess that's a no, on the fet diagram?

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:00 pm
by steelwoolghandi
I like the colors you used and not bad for a hack job man painting is one of those things you do and if one little thing goes wrong it messes a whole lot up.

Windows CrazyDave is right about Sanding If I mess up my windows I find the finest grit sand paper and sand them down then I take some stuff called Nova (got it on Ebay) and its a 2 step process use Nova 3 and it smoothes out the plastic then Nova 2 polishes it clear agian.

Nova was first used to clean the Plexiglass on the tops of Pinball and video game machines now works great for clearing up plastic.

but if you dont want to invest in Nova then take and sand them smooth (as CD says) and paint them black or use trim tape like car striping tape and put that on the windows.

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:30 am
by betty.k
y'know, i'd try ynad's idea first, use tape on the windows. electrical tape would be fine.
at least if you don't like it you can just remove the tape and try plan b. sanding is irreversible :-)

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:37 am
by crazydave
steelwoolghandi wrote:I like the colors you used and not bad for a hack job man painting is one of those things you do and if one little thing goes wrong it messes a whole lot up.

Windows CrazyDave is right about Sanding If I mess up my windows I find the finest grit sand paper and sand them down then I take some stuff called Nova (got it on Ebay) and its a 2 step process use Nova 3 and it smoothes out the plastic then Nova 2 polishes it clear agian.

Nova was first used to clean the Plexiglass on the tops of Pinball and video game machines now works great for clearing up plastic.

but if you dont want to invest in Nova then take and sand them smooth (as CD says) and paint them black or use trim tape like car striping tape and put that on the windows.
I also use 3m rubbing compound sometimes. Depends on the situation. I'm constantly experimenting. Live and learn ya know?

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:25 am
by clxfiles
I tried the wetsanding of the whole car and it worked a little. I used some acrylic glossy coat stuff I got in a "Testors"' (not sure if that's the same as clear coating) kit, it seemed to improve the fogginess in both the paint and windows. I'll post a pic if I can get it in a better situation than it was. Right now it's not all that much better except you can see through the windows. Thanks again for the suggestions guys.

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:27 pm
by MotorGong
You turned that old shell into your own work of art. Those ground effects are cool! And I like the tires and wheels, good pick! What are they?

You mentioned it took you months, on and off, to complete this. Maybe that's my problem, I'm always rushing it.

Wow, on second glance, you did extend the hood! Looks great.

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:28 pm
by sat4life27
How did I miss this one?

That is a nice ride clx, the paint looks great and the wheels set it off nice.

I would just ditch the windows all together and make some new ones.

Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:13 am
by clxfiles
Thanks fellas

The rims are from an Import Racer. I think an RX-7, not sure though cuz I bought a package of 5 and pulled all the rims off at one time and set them aside. They wobble a little, I put some bearings on them to reduce that but they still make it hard to go in a straight line, but only on takeoff. Once it's going it tracks straight.

Not sure on how to make new windows. I didn't see that tut. But, the sanding and clearcoat made a big difference. I hadn't posted a pic yet because the ones I took don't convey the difference. (Working on the camera skills too.) Here's a pic though. The trim paint is still blotchy but the window, you can see through now.
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Funny thing about this was, last week while driving home, I saw an RX-7 with the same paint color, racing stripes and rims. No ground effects and no silver on the sides. That happen to anyone else???

Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:49 pm
by SuperFly
You got those windows fixed up really nice. Close-up pictures tend to exagerrate any little flaws, so I imagine that looks pretty sweet in real life.

clxfiles wrote:Funny thing about this was, last week while driving home, I saw an RX-7 with the same paint color, racing stripes and rims. No ground effects and no silver on the sides. That happen to anyone else???
I've had lots of those "little car moments" when I see a 1:1 version of one of my bits on the road, and it's pretty cool. In fact, I just saw this one this morning while driving to work:

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